NGC6744 - SB in PAVO [REPRO]

[stevous67]

Okay, I've posted a repro thanks to comments/help below and via PM's.

Here is the new version, totally from the start:

Medium (http://www.mpas.asn.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2151&g2_serialNumber=6)

Full (http://www.mpas.asn.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2148&g2_serialNumber=2)

Brendan is going to have a web session with me on some suggestions on noise minimisation [which is very nice of him].

The new image is different to the old, and my wife likes the old one better! :rofl: Oh boy...

Thanks and bye!

Steve



Original message...

Hi All!

I've been fluffing around with this image for a while, where I can see there are things I could still do to it, but I’ve given up for the moment on the tweaking [well until someone else gives me a new idea or some comments].

Cheers, and good luck today with the transit! :thumbsup:


Steve

Medium (http://www.mpas.asn.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2089&g2_serialNumber=12)

Large (http://www.mpas.asn.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2086&g2_serialNumber=7)

Instrument: Planewave CDK 12.5 F8
Camera: STL-11000 + MOAG + AOL
Camera Sensitivity: L BIN 1x1, RGB BIN 2X2
Exposure Details: L 900sec x 12 + RGB 450 x 7 [each]
Mount: AP900GTO
Autoguider: SBIG Remote Head
Date: 19 May 2012 + 20 May 2012
Viewing Location: Heathcote, Victoria.
Software Enchancements: CCDStack2, PS CS3
Comments: Clear Nights, Very good Conditions, accompanied by high dew til temperature fell to zero degrees
Seeing conditions: 8/10 - [edited: may be not so good, but FWHM 2.8 to 3.95]

[OneCosmos]

There is nothing you could do to improve that it is simply stunning - perfection. I'm in awe:)

[jsmoraes]

Since you asked for commentary, if it is possible to this excellent image, I can suggest a little reduction of red saturation. On large image , with zoom, you can see some noise due to it. But, really, I don't know if it worth.
Many others galaxies can be seen on background. Congratulations for this wonder image !

[bmitchell82]

Just some technical issues,

You have black rings around the stars within the galaxy which suggests that you pushed your sharpening possibly too far?

For the seeing being so good, the over all image (stars especially) look really soft compared to some of your other images, possibly a focus issue? or the seeing wasn't as good as you thought (I know your running AO how many Hz was it running at?). When the seeing is crap around my neck of the woods my stars get really soft other wise they are crisp without need of any sharpening. for comparison see here (http://brendanmitchell.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Messier-17.jpg) and here (http://brendanmitchell.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/B33.jpg) where the first one has a fair bit of deconvolving and the second does not.

Possibly the overall image could get a bit of saturation love, it looks slightly flat in some places but cooked in others.

Apart from that the guiding and framing are fine well done :)

BM

[RickS]

Lovely image, Steve! Having had a go at NGC 6744 recently I know what a difficult target it is and you've done a great job.

Cheers,
Rick.

[TrevorW]

Apart from the technical bits and pieces a nice tidy image

[stevous67]

Hi Guys ~ Thanks for the comments. Looking at the image after a break, the stars in the outer arms look somewhat ... terrible, but I should have good enough data to replace that.



Thanks Chris.



Jorge you may be right, I'm going to go back to my first PS entries to check what I did. I'll check the reds, plus calibrate my monitor.



Thank's Rick.



Thanks Trevor, yes the technical bits...sometimes I look at an image for too long and go blind. Cheers.




Hi Brendan, you're right with your comments. Marc linked me to some tut's on avoiding those horrid halos, I should have read them last weekend! :question:

About the guiding, I think the AO was cycling at about 7hz. The soft stars may have been a focus issue? I'm going to go back to the start to check my luminance data.

I appreciate the feedback Brendan.

[stevous67]

Just out of interest, does any know if you can calibrate your screen within Photoshop? I seem to get one view of an image within PS, and another view whilst looking at it say in an image viewer.

Thanks,

Steve

[RickS]

A lot of apps, including image viewers, aren't colour managed. If you're creating images in PS using a wide gamut colour space like AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB and not converting them to sRGB then they will look much less saturated in non-colour managed apps. Use Edit/Convert to Profile to assign a destination space of sRGB and see if that helps...

[Rigel003]

Superb image, Steve.

[strongmanmike]

That's a great rendition of this beautiful galaxy, the colour is superb, I think you have done a near perfect job of the processing really :thumbsup: Only in the large size does one notice the thin black halos around the stars and the patchy smoothing and sharpening - a few issues that could be easily repaired in a repro :thumbsup:

Mike

[stevous67]

Thanks Rick, that did seem to make a slight improvement to the displays contrast range. Thanks.

Steve

[stevous67]

Thanks Graeme and Mike.

Mike, you are right and it's been on my mind since posting. So, I'm about to post a repro. Already I've had Brendan have a look, and I have now posted him the base raw files for a look. He's got some tricks to share via a web meeting.

I definately appreciate the comments and help. I still cannot believe how involved you can get in this hobby, looking at little "dots an stuff" - I really like these challanges!

Thanks again,

Steve

[marco]

Great shot Steve! And have to agree with your wife, the first version does look better, in my opinion, for both color and resolution ;)

Clear skies
Marco

[stevous67]

Yeap! There you go! I'll just stick my hands up - take me in, I give up. :P

Ahh, time to give up on the Repro's for this one - well at least for the moment.

Thanks Marco, clear skies to you too,

Steve :lol:

[multiweb]

Superb galaxy shot Steve. Really nice. :thumbsup:

[LucasB]

Beautiful image Steve! Fantastic detail. :thumbsup:
Lucas

[LightningNZ]

Epic repro! Beautiful star colours especially.

Thanks for posting,
Cam

[TheDecepticon]

I'd be happy with either image, looks like a great shot. Well done. :thumbsup: